Birding Beijing on Talking Naturally

You can now listen to my interview about Jankowski’s Bunting with Charlie Moores on the Talking Naturally website. Click here. Thanks to Charlie for giving me a platform to help raise further awareness about the plight of this unique bird.

2 thoughts on “Birding Beijing on Talking Naturally”

Nice interview Terry! Very informative. It’s new to me to hear Jankowski’s bunting is sensitive to Cuckoos. But that is only become a problem I guess because it’s population declined to so few because of those other reasons, habitat loss and droughts. Here in Europe Yellow Bunting and Corn Bunting have declined dramatically because of the decline in available food in winter. Hearing Jankowski’s is more or less resident and does not migrate, at least not very far, makes me wonder if this species because of loss in habitat also has trouble finding food in winter. Maybe this could be more of a problem then loss in nest availability. Is anything known about this? If that is the case, it could be good news. In some places buntings have been profiting from throwing bags of corn on the fields in wintering areas. This can be done by every private person without help of any institution. It sounds very artificial and something only game managers would do, but it helps them survive until more sustainable solutions are set up by governments or conservation organisations.

Hi Bart. Thanks very much for your comment. Very helpful. The suspicion is that JB winters very close to its breeding grounds. One local reported that they used to ‘flock’ nearby in winter but, in recent years, none have been found in that season, suggesting that the remaining birds move at least a short distance. Disovering the current wintering areas is a key priority. Once that has been achieved, if it’s feasible and appropriate, your idea of feeding sounds like a good one and could be critical in reducing the winter mortality rate, especially if there is another winter with large amounts of snow. I will pass it on to the BirdLife team. Thanks again! Terry